GOP Lawmakers Say $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Bill Offers Too Much Support. Most Voters Don’t Agree
Key Takeaways
35% of Republicans say the COVID-19 bill offers the right amount of support and another 19% say it’s not enough.
36% of voters give President Joe Biden the most credit for the $1.9 trillion stimulus package, while 22% say Democrats in Congress are most responsible.
37% of GOP voters say former President Donald Trump is most responsible for the COVID-19 aid bill’s progress.
For nearly two months, Republican lawmakers have tried to make the case that the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus measure offers excessive support. A new Morning Consult/Politico survey finds that most voters don’t agree.
A 45 percent plurality of registered voters in the March 6-8 poll said the COVID-19 bill, which is headed for a House vote Wednesday after surviving trims from moderate Senate Democrats, offers the right amount of support, while another 24 percent said it doesn’t offer enough. Just 1 in 5 voters said the package, which enjoys wide bipartisan backing, offers too much support.
Republican lawmakers have criticized the bill for a variety of reasons, objecting to the total cost of the package and what it would add to the federal deficit, in addition to questioning whether this level of funding is needed as the economy picks up steam following the passage of the last relief package.
Over half of Republican voters do not agree with GOP lawmakers that the bill offers excessive support: 35 percent said the package is the right amount and 19 percent said it doesn’t go far enough. Another 35 percent of Republicans said the support goes too far.
A majority of Democrats (56 percent) and a plurality of independents (38 percent) said the package has the right amount of support.
The survey results bolster President Joe Biden’s position after he faced pushback not only from Republicans on the size of the stimulus bill but also from some moderate Democrats. Yet it’s not certain that voters will give him credit for the bill.
Thirty-six percent of voters say that Biden is most responsible for progress made on the economic stimulus package, compared with 22 percent who credit Democrats in Congress.
Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of respondents said Republicans were most responsible for the aid package’s movement: 6 percent who pointed to GOP lawmakers and 17 percent who gave the nod to former President Donald Trump.
The partisan splits are stark: 57 percent of Democrats give the credit to Biden and 30 percent to congressional Democrats, while 37 percent of Republicans said the same of Trump and 13 percent credited GOP members of Congress.
Among independents, the results skew toward the Democratic side, with 30 percent giving Biden the nod and 22 percent for Congressional Democrats. Seventeen percent of independents said Trump was most responsible.
The results underscore how, even as Republicans in Congress lobby against the popular economic stimulus package, and not a single GOP lawmaker has cast a vote for it so far, Trump might still benefit from its passage in the eyes of a significant portion of his base.
Support for the bill hasn’t wavered, even as Republicans in Congress have mounted attacks on the legislation’s price tag and scope.
Overall, 75 percent of voters said they support the package, while 18 percent said they oppose it. That includes 90 percent of Democrats that back the package compared with only 5 percent who oppose it.
Republican support for the package remained steady from last week at 59 percent, while 35 percent of GOP voters said they oppose the legislation.
The poll surveyed 1,990 registered voters and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
Claire Williams previously worked at Morning Consult as a reporter covering finances.
Matt Bracken previously worked at Morning Consult as a senior editor of energy, finance, health and tech.
